Category: Science

Human Capacity for Killing at a Distance

Source: duke.edu

Anthropologist Steven Churchill from Duke University recently gave a fascinating lecture [listen] on the discovery of projectile weapons by early Homo sapiens and subsequent effects on large carnivores (extinction!) and human evolution.

His basic premise is that sometime in the past 250,000 years humans discovered how to kill at a distance. This allowed us to crowd-out the various carnivore “gilds” including our co-evolved cousins the Neanderthals. In this photo he holds a spear-throwing projectile weapon (atlatl) in his right hand and a reproduction of a Neanderthal thrusting spear in his left.

These weapons have also had a profound effect on modern human conflicts. When we fight with thrusting weapons, the probability of injury is a linear function of the number of combatants: 0.5 with two on one, 0.33 with three on one, 0.25 with four on one, etc. So the strategy is to bring lots of friends to a fight! With projectile weapons and the function becomes exponential with the probability of injury decreasing by the square: 0.25 with two on one, 0.11 with three on one, and 0.06 with four to one!

Descartes’ Bones by Russell Shorto

This entertaining little book sheds light on many subjects. First, it is a concise biography of the life and ideas of René Descartes. He outlines how Descartes’ Discourse on the Method led to the birth of the modern era. He also gives a clear overview of Cartesian Dualism and why we struggle with it to this day.

Second, this is a compelling detective story—tracing the mysterious path of Descartes’ remains from one European capital to another and how he became a “secular saint” whose bones were treated as holy relics.

The final chapters attempt to tie up loose ends. The author speculates on why Descartes’ skull has come down to us while the rest of his bones were lost. He introduces us to several modern Cartesians and explains why Descartes remains one of the most influential thinkers to this day. He concludes by addressing the perennial struggle between faith and reason, a conflict that Descartes helped create and ultimately transcend.

Homo Floresiensis

A new member of the human tribe, Homo Floresiensis, was discovered in 2003 on the Indonesian island of Flores. These diminutive humans were alive as recently as 20,000 years ago, which makes them contemporary with us (H. sapiens) and H. neanderthalensis. The recently opened Hall of Human Origins at the National Museum of Natural History has incredibly lifelike models by the artist John Gurche, including H. Floresiensis shown here. [I’m not fond of the moniker “Hobbit” BTW. I think it clouds the facts and significance of this discovery.]

Here are some additional links…